


Saving Family

by StarSwathi



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Clint Barton & Tony Stark Friendship, Consequences, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Not A Fix-It, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), Steve is not bad just wrong, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-02-12 11:08:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12957924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarSwathi/pseuds/StarSwathi
Summary: When Tony needs Clint, Clint  is there for him.Now with corrections and a new chapter.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do a fic where Clint wasn't a crazy asshole. He liked to tease and banter but they took him to a dark place and it seemed weird. I wanted to explain it. Also, I don't think anyone is completely blameless but I do love Tony and they hurt him. I cried during the trailer when they fought so the movie still makes me upset. Also own up to your mistakes. Please!  
> Also I'm owning mine. I don't know fast I will be updating this. I often find plots I love and lose interest. The expansion is because of reviews so thank anyone who commented for more.

Clint sat down on the bed at the room T’Challa gave to him. He had waited for about an hour before he disappeared to call and report. He grabbed he phone that had been hidden in the false bottom of his quiver. As he turned it on, he double checked that the door was shut. He wouldn’t put it past Wanda to try to come in to check on him. He had played the protector to make his position more believable and it seemed to be working. The woman, however, with her powers made him feel uneasy. The phone rang twice before it was picked up and it was FRIDAY on the line. “Mr. Barton.”

               Clint laid down on the bed. He was the only one who got away from the airport without major injures mostly because he only fought against Nat. The two were pulling their punches since they really didn’t want to hurt anyone that was present. That was until Wanda called him on it and hurt Nat. He could still see Nat fly across the field after Wanda had hit her flash before his eyes. He almost broke cover that moment but he knew that Tony would take care of her. “Hey, Fri. Is Tony around?”

               There was a beat before the AI answered him. “Boss has not checked in since he followed Captain America to Siberia. I have also lost contact with the suit roughly twenty-six minutes after Boss reached the facility.”

               That grabbed his attention and caused Clint to quickly sit up in the bed. “Are you sure? Do you need me to go get him?” Clint had already started to go through what he needed to get to Siberia. If Wakanda’s tech was anything like Tony’s, he would be able to pilot it after he got permission. He might have to tell the king what was happening since he was almost done with the mission anyway. All he had to do was debrief and go grab Tony before returning to the farm. He had the evidence that he needed. The bonus was he also got more dirt on Ross and his shady use of the Accords and the US military.

               “Vision is already on his way. He should be reaching the Hydra base in five minutes. Would you like me to direct your call to him?” FRIDAY answered.

               “Either him or Nat. I want to get out of here soon. I don’t want to get Laura mad at me for leaving her to plan the party for Tony.” Clint said as he started to pace. Something didn’t feel right. How did Rogers and Barnes get back but Tony was stuck at the base? Did something happen after they nabbed Zemo and got rid of the other super soldiers? Did Tony get into the computers and just lost track of time? That sounded like something that could happen. Tony’s work area in the barn had an egg timer so he knew that he had to come in and at least give prove of life. It had been a joke at first but the kids started to use it as a demand for attention and Tony could never say no to them. But if it really was Tony getting lost in the data, how did Friday loose contact?

               “Miss Romanoff is on the run. The Prince has informed the UN of what happened between him and her during the battle at the airport. Boss hasn’t had time to notify the right people about her status so she is not able to be contacted at this time.” FRIDAY stated.  “Vision is on the line.”

               “Hey Vis, what is going on there? Rogers made it seem like Tony was fine when he left.” Clint was starting to worry. The plan was starting to go off the rails. It was supposed to be a quick job, too. Three days at the most. Tony and Nat had both noticed that Rogers had been getting more and more erratic as the search for Barnes was extended. Rogers also started to pull away from the original Avengers and only called on them when he heard a hot tip but he never shared where he got the information from or what it was completely. This coupled with some of the research that Tony had uncovered after all the information SHIELD information was release made the three of them worry that they might have a ticking time bomb on their hands.

               The three normies (as Tony liked to call them) had bonded after Nat told Tony about his father’s death being a hit rather than an accident. It had been a few weeks after the major data dump that Tony had to fix since Nat and Captain America didn’t think about the innocent agents on the ground that would be affect by their secrets being out in the open. The dress down that Tony had given Nat must have been epic since the Russian crashed at the farm for two weeks before she even talked about what happened. Clint knew about the dump since he had been visiting Tony when Jarvis first alerted him about what had happened. He was stunned that Black Widow had done something so reckless that could not only have endangered him but also many of their friends who were good agents. Tony’s mistrust of SHEILD had saved most of the agents and their families since he had an alert set up for just this kind of event. Hell, Tony had gone above and beyond by helping many of them get jobs. That was one of the reasons why Maria was working for Tony. That and she said that herding scientists wasn’t as hard as herding agents. Tony almost fell over laughing when he heard that statement and wanted to see her deal with a whole floor of overly excited, hyper-focused scientist, who all were a little full of themselves. Rightfully full of themselves at that since Stark Enterprises only hired the best. He set up a private viewing channel to watch the formal agent try to get them corralled without lethal force.

               Ultron had been hard on everyone for many different reasons. First, Tony wanted to take the blame for the whole thing himself. He had started going in front of the cameras and telling whoever would listen that him and his company would be helping pay for the repairs. In the eyes of many, that looked like a guilty man trying to sooth this conscience. Clint had been so worried that Tony had been mad at him for not telling him about Laura and the kids that he didn’t even notice the depression the man had sunk into after they returned to New York. Luckily after a few days of moping around the house that his work husband (Laura’s words) was mad at him, he finally called Tony to invite him over for dinner.  That was when he heard FRIDAY’s slightly voice saying that Tony had passed out on the couch for the fourth time that week. Clint called Nat and rushed over to his friend’s side. When Tony woke up, he had to deal with three very angry spies, who aggressively mothered him back to health.

Adding to Tony’s misery during that time was his loss of JARVIS, his first AI. His AIs and Bots were his family and it was like he had lost his child and created a monster. (Ultron. Not Vision. Tony had no idea what to do with Vision at the time.) Tony had already told them a long time ago why Jarvis was so important to him. He was the only one that was always by his side just like his namesake. For a man who had to look at the motives of everyone around him, having one person who he could depend on even if he was an AI was grounding. Now, Tony was floating away without an anchor. Or at least that is what he felt like until he was bundled up and taken to the farm to get his bearings. Laura took one look at Tony and some how adopted him into that family that night. Clint didn’t even have to ask her to help as she grabbed some extra blankets and remade the guest bed. She even moved the rocking chair into Tony’s room because she knew that one of the spies were probably going to keep a close eye on the genius for the next few days. With Tony’s history of depression, it wasn’t an option to let him stay by himself.

Slowly, the man came back into the world. It also showed Tony’s biggest weakness. Kids. He didn’t know what to do with them. The first time Lila had found Tony under the covers she decided that he needed to be snuggled. The adults found him later that day debating Harry Potter in a way that only a child and Tony could. Coop managed to get Tony into the barn to help with the tractor when he heard that Tony was an inventor. Coop had always been a tinker and having an adult who actually knew what he was doing was amazing for him. The barn slowly became the place to be as Nat pulled a couch into the corner to watch and Lila would talk to Tony as the boys played with spare parts. Even after Tony was better, some days he would magically appear without warning in the barn so randomly that the kids would knock on the door when they came home to tell Tony that they were back from school just to check.

It was on one of those visits that Laura went into labor. Tony’s face when he was told that he was babysitting the kids with no help was priceless. Since it was their third time at this, Laura was calmer than Tony about the whole thing. Actually, Coop was calmer than Tony about it. Lila too. The genius seemed to forget that there was a little person inside of Laura. By the time the third-time parents came home Tony had baby proofed everything and added FRIDAY into anything that he could so she could help. Clint almost fell over laughing when he saw that the crib had been re-baby proofed. Apparently, he could have left his kids in charge of Tony. The man also hovered over the new member of the family. It had taken Lila yelling at him to actually pick up Nate. The look of complete awe and horror didn’t leave Tony for weeks whenever he was handing the baby.

 By then, Nat had found footage from the Hydra base that they had first met the twins. It showed Wanda going Tony’s mind. Clint had almost been sick at the sight. Between the staff and the witch, Tony probably didn’t know what he was doing. Tony explained that Ultron was just a program to detect hazards and save humans but no one wanted to listen to him after the disaster. He also hadn’t finished it and the days after going to the base while he had the scepter were a little hazy. He knew he should have listened to Bruce but he let his fear got the best of him. Even as a part of him screamed to stop, he finished the program. On reviewing that tape of Ultron’s first appearance, Nat had found an odd spark timed in the holding area that house the robots timed when Mjolnir sparked as well. The news stuck Tony hard that were other factors into Ultron being created. Later that night as he drank with Nat, he confided in her that he was worried that Ultron was really his darkness. Nat smack him hard stating that the reason she never blamed him was that Tony’s heart was so kind and forgiving that she knew he couldn’t have been the only hand in Ultron’s creation. What worried Nat more was that he wasn’t mad that a God held him by the neck and could have killed him. Nat said revealed that it was the first time in a long time that she was truly scared of her team members especially the enhanced ones.

               That statement was the beginning of Tony paying attention to the Accord talks. Clint and Natasha had both been spies so idea of rules chaffed them naturally but they could see how there need to be accountability or at least the appearances of it to make everyone feel comfortable. Also, if one of them could do that to a co-worker what was stopping them from doing it to the general public. He knew that they needed some accountability to each other and to the world as a whole. Tony increased the time he was working in Sokovia to help build back the town. He knew that he couldn’t save those that died but he wanted to do what he could. His need to repent had caused him to forget about his health again so Nat started to shadow him and Clint demanded that he come to the farm at least once a week. The other side effect of Tony’s need to make amends lead the media to cement the idea that Sokovia was Tony’s fault. Tony’s self-worth being what it was allowed them even though he knew that there was evidence that it wasn’t him. He wasn’t going to be seen as making excuses for what happened. He did forward Nat’s intel to SHIELD and the UN so they could have a clear record of what had really happened but he knew the media didn’t care about fact just what sold.  Being traded out of the Avengers for Wanda didn’t even register to Tony until it was too late to really make a fuss about it and by that time he was too tired. Instead on his time off, he drifted to the farm whenever he could. He fixed tractors, installed lights and helped with homework. On his time off, he just wanted to be Uncle Tony which felt more real and more satisfying than running around after Rogers most days.

               That was also when they noticed the cracks in the team. Bruce had disappeared, Thor went home, Clint retired, Tony was working, Nate was on missions and Rogers was God knows where. Fury had stopped by one of many times Tony was at the farm and they talked about what was happening. He knew that the team that he had put together had fallen apart but he wanted to know why and if it was salvageable. Fury said they needed a spy on the inside and they all knew who he meant. Nat didn’t like the idea so spying on the other half of the team but she knew that she didn’t want to fall victim to her own blind spot. (Also it never really felt right that Rogers still hadn’t told Tony about his parents even though he was using Tony’s money to find his friend.) They were official part of the CIA in deep hidden back corner due to a favor that Fury used from a contact. They all felt uneasy about what was happening but if something went wrong, Tony demanded that Nat and Clint were taken care of. He didn’t want them in jail because this wasn’t sanctioned by some government letter group. CIA to him was just the same as SHIELD who also knew but weren’t as trust. (Which is saying something about what Hydra did to the organization’s reputation.)

               They all knew the Avengers were where stereotypes of all enhanced people were coming from in the media. If the Avengers saved the world than maybe the lady with who tinged green could help out too. If an Avenger destroyed a building, the whole enhanced community was seen as the problem. Maybe we should report the weirdo with the green skin. People were fickle and could change at the drop of a hat but it was hard to erase fear from a person’s heart. Tony, Nat and Clint were smart enough to know that if they didn’t control the narrative that they were going to give someone else enough rope to hang them. If that happened, they would be taking innocents like the children at the Professor Xavier with them. Tony had been spending an increasing amount of time with policy makers and victim groups to find a happy medium for everyone but he knew that if the public saw the Avengers as the threat then it could go down the tubes quickly.

               When Lagos happened, it was as if all Tony’s prediction had come true. The public got their pitch forks and their torches for Wanda. Tony tried to intervene but since he was barely with the Avengers anymore, he was thrown for a loop with what had happened. Ever since Wanda because an Avenger, Tony’s role was scaled back until he was in the sidelines looking in just like everyone else. To protect Wanda, he asked Vision to stay with her at the compound until he could deal with the fallout but he didn’t have time to talk to her about why she was stuck indoors. Maybe that was his fault but he had hoped that she would listen to Vision when he told her to stay at home for her own safety.  

               It all happened so quickly after that. Clint, Tony and Nat had to change their strategy as they went since Nat had sided with Tony publicly on the Accords. It would make it hard for her look like she supported Captain America now. When Clint got the call from Rogers, he immediately called Tony to tell him about the change. Tony liked it even less when he heard that Clint was going to be the one to pick up Wanda. Yes, Tony had figured out how to make a damper for Wanda’s powers but he wasn’t sure how well it would work. It was never field tested. It, however, was their best bet.

               So here Clint was pacing in a beautiful guest room, waiting for Vision to tell him how this plan went to hell. “Are you there?”

               “Yes, I just arrived. The doors are wide open. There doesn’t seem to be….” There was silence on the line. “I see the five dead Super soldiers and they seem to still in the cyro state. There is some evidence of a fight but… No.” The last word was filled with shock and a bit of anger.

               Clint stopped pacing. His hand opened and closed quickly since it should have been wrapped around his bow. He hated being on this side of coms. He felt useless being away from the action. It was one of the reason why he retired. He knew he wasn’t as quick and agile as he had once been.  Soon, he would be aged into working behind the scenes like Coulson had been. That just wasn’t him. He couldn’t take the wait. “Vis? Vision, what is going on?”

               “Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark, Sir?” Vision said as he ignored Clint. The archer knew that this was a bad sign. Tony would have acknowledged Vision immediately. Tony knew that Vision still was unsure of their relationship and was trying to keep himself open for the new life form. He hadn’t always been great at it when Vision first appeared but the two had fallen into a pseudo father- son relationship. “Mr. Stark isn’t responding.” The worry bled into the android’s voice. “FRIDAY, I need medical assistance.”

               “Vision, what is going on?” Clint was getting frantic. “Just tell me something.”

               Vision finally responded to Clint. “Sorry, Clint. Sir, Tony, is still in his armor. He is breathing weakly and his pulse is thready. I believe that there is blood loss but I am worried about removing the armor in case that it is holding a puncture closed.”

               Clint’s vision seemed to narrow as he lost his breath for a second. Tony was on the brink of death again. This was getting to be too often. It seemed like every other year Tony almost died and Clint was never there to help. “But you saw the soldiers. Who could have done this?”

               There was a pause in the conversation. In a soft, regretful voice, Vision answered. “I believe it was Captain America who did this.”

               “WHAT?!!!” Clint exclaimed not caring who heard anymore. This is why Nat should have been here and not him. Clint couldn’t control his emotions as well as she could. “Say that again.”

               “Sir has a mark through the armor that could only be made by a structure with a sharp edge and the shield is 1.5 meters away from him with blood on it. There is no one else here and if it was anyone else why would they leave sir here and not take him for either kidnapping or just for his suit.” Vision explained. “Also, the metal arm that Mr. Barnes has been seen with is laying a few meters away from us. I am guessing the three had a fight and they beat Sir unto submission and left him.”

               Clint stumbled onto the bed. “He didn’t. He couldn’t…. I mean we knew that he was acting odd but he… I thought he said they were friends…. I can’t… I mean he didn’t say anything to Thor but I thought that was because of the scepter. I mean I was shocked that Thor would do that but actively try to kill Tony…” Clint felt numb. Tony had become one of his closest friends. The people only he trusted more were Laura and Nat. “He’s not the man we thought he was, is he?” Before Vision could say anything, Clint continued. “I’m going to find a way back to New York. Take him to the tower and make sure that Dr. Cho is there and knows about the extent of the damage. I’ll get in contact with Nat through back channels and she should be back within the next two days if she can help it.” He took a deep breath. Vision for all his wisdom and strength was still young. Clint knew that he needed to hear that Tony was going to be okay whether it was true or not. The kid shouldn’t be facing losing his dad by himself. “He’ll be fine. Stark men are made of Iron. We will take care of him. Just get him home.”

               Vision’s voice was choked as he replied. “Yes, of course. FRIDAY has sent for medical. She was clever enough to have sent them as soon as she lost contact with Sir.”

               Clint relaxed a little with that news. At least, they should be with Tony soon. “I’ll be in touch. Call me if there is any change.”  
               “What about the mission?”

               “The mission has always been about keeping us safe and now one of us is in grave danger. It might even be by one of our own. I have proof that we need the Accords and that there is something fishy going on with Rogers. I am coming home.” Clint said as he grabbed his bow. “I’ll contact you with an ETA. Take care of him.”

               “Be careful.” Vision replied before cutting off the call.

               Clint took a deep breath and put a smile on his face. He didn’t need to give anything away to the rogue Avengers. If anything, that would make it harder to escape. He really didn’t even them know that well and he wasn’t going to let them delay getting to Tony’s side. He met Wilson a handful of times and he seemed nice enough but he had blinders on when it came to Rogers. This was the longest he had ever spent with Wanda and thankfully since she tried to pull the same manipulative crap that Nat did on marks which rubbed Clint the wrong way with his family that she knew about. And really, a kid? She was twenty-five for god sakes. Also, she loved playing with people’s mind. After Loki, Clint couldn’t tolerate that at all.  Lang, he didn’t know at all and could be a major problem if he had to fight his way out. And last but not least, Rogers. The whole fucking reason he was there. No, he needed to get out of there before this den of snakes realized he wasn’t one of them.

               He moved out of his room and was almost to the main door to the suite when Lang saw him. Luckily, he was the only one watching the large TV in the main hall. “Hey, where are you going?”

               Clint gestured with his bow to the door. “There was a practice ground on the way in here and I want to work out some of this energy.”

               Lang nodded as he flipped through the channels. He wasn’t paying much attention to Clint. “I get it man. I get a rush whenever I put on the suit. It’s great know that you are really making a difference.”

               Clint ground his teeth and turned away. The asshole had gotten into Tony’s suit and almost killed him. Clint still didn’t know what was happening with Rhodes. It seemed like Lang was just a yes man to whomever asked. They were lucky that Hydra didn’t get to the man first. “I’ll see ya.”

               Clint was out the door before he could get a response. There was a woman standing a few feet away. At the sight of Clint, she raised an eyebrow. Clint knew that this was a guard for the safety of the Wakandan people and not the people in that room. Wakanda was one of the first countries to see the need for the Accords. Clint had heard rumors that the country had quite a few enhanced people within its borders and that they were trying to protect them from persecution as well as trying to make sure those in other countries were in check. It was sound logic but that made Wakanda into a very gray country to be in as far as the Rogers and his crew was concerned. Clint walked up to the warrior and pointedly kept his hand spread to show no hostility. “I need to talk to your King. Now. Please and Thank you.”

Clint looked at the office that he was lead to for his meeting with the king. It was the over the top riches that he always imagined Tony’s office to be like when he first heard of the genius. In truth until recently, Tony’s office was pretty bare. He didn’t have anything personal in there. It was whatever Pepper had decided to put there until she wanted it back or thought that it didn’t reflect Tony’s position well enough. Clint knew that Tony had gone into other people’s offices thinking it was his just because he rarely knew what it would look like week to week.  It was now decorated with photos of the farm and Lila’s little creations. (Tony had gotten into the habit of expecting a present from the kids whenever Clint visited the tower.)

               This room had a color scheme of gold and red. More gold than red but those were the colors. (Tony would have loved it. He would probably send Iron Man memorabilia just to show his love.)  The floor was in white marble and the walls were red with flecks of what Clint was sure was real gold. Even the columns in the four corners seemed coated with the real gold plates. He knew that Wakanda was a rich country but this seemed bit much. The desk was oversized and in a deep red cherry and chair looked more like a throne again in red cherry but with gold upholstery. This was no question a room for a royal.

               As he waited, Clint’s leg started to bounce. He wanted to get up and pace but he didn’t want to appear aggressive. He was hoping that he could make a deal and get to Tony as soon as possible. FRIDAY had messaged him saying the Tony was on a plane but since he was so unstable, they had to take him to Japan for treatment. There was no way for him to get there quickly without the royal’s help.

               King T’Challa came in fallowed by two of his guards and a woman that Clint recognized as his sister. Clint stood and bowed to them. “Your majesties.”

               T’Challa sat down behind the desk as his sister stood by his side. “Mr. Barton, I was told you needed to talk to me.”

               “Sir, I’m not good at prettying up my words so I’ll just get to it. I need safe passage to Japan. If it’s a matter of money, I can promise that Mr. Stark or his company will pay for gas.” Clint said as he remained standing.

               The princess responding. “Didn’t you just fight against him? Why would that man help you now?”

               Clint shrugged. “I was here to keep an eye on Captain America. Mr. Stark has knowledge of what my mission was.”

               There was silence as the T’Challa gave Clint a measured look. “I do remember that you didn’t seem to have your heart in the fight at the airport.”

               “Black Widow and I were both trying to figure out Captain America’s end game. We thought that it would have ended when Barnes was back at Captain America’s side. Tony had even tried to find middle ground before the fight started. When he still didn’t surrender, we knew that there was more going on.” Clint said as he tried to keep his findings close to the vest. He didn’t know if he could trust the monarch with the information he had.

               “Your Black Widow assaulted me. If she was in my country, she would be put to death.” T’Challa stated as he leaned forward.

               Clint smirked internally as he thought about Nat getting one over the King. His face did not reflect his amusement. “Sir, we needed to know what Captain America’s next step was so we had to let him go. I later found out about the five super soldiers after we were taken to the RAFT. I couldn’t break cover since I still didn’t know what the end game was but Rogers seems pretty content with staying here. I have received intel that Mr. Stark is going to a hospital in Japan and I need to meet him there.”

               “How was Stark injured? He was fine when we left the facility.” T’Challa said as he looked at his sister. It seemed like he was getting an uneasy feeling from his dealings with Rogers.

               Clint took half a step closer to the desk in his eagerness. “So you saw Tony before you left?”

               Shaking his head, T’Challa answered. “No, Captain Rogers told me he was fine when I inquired about him.”

               Clint tried to control his temper by taking in a deep breath. “I have reason to believe that Rogers and Barnes assaulted Tony and left him in Siberia with no way to get home.”

               T’Challa stood up quickly. “What?”

               “Sir, there was no contact with Tony from the time I’m guessing you left to roughly thirty minutes ago when Vision was able to put eyes on him.” Clint said. He took another breath and hope his next statement would help his case not hurt it. “Sir, I work for SHIELD and the CIA and I can have the Director of SHIELD on the phone to verify my mission if you want but I ask if you could make your decision quickly because I would prefer to be with Mr. Stark before he wakes up.”

               The Princess answered. “Use our phone to call your director.” She handed him a state of the art phone. Clint knew this was also a ploy to get more information on SHIELD but he knew Coulson won’t mind having a direct line to the Royals of Wakanda. It was access that SHIELD had always wanted.

               Clint dialed the number followed by his access code and a sequence that would signal the importance of the call. A few seconds later Phil Coulson appeared projected from the phone’s surface. “Barton?”

               “Coulson, I broke cover and am currently with the King of Wakanda. He wants to talk to you.” Clint stated as he put the phone on the desk.

               Without missing a beat, Coulson greeting the nobles and asked what they needed. T’Challa answered. “Is what Mr. Barton saying true? You had your eyes on Captain America and Mr. Stark is injured because of him?”

               Nodding, Phil answered. “Yes, the Avenger named Vision about Mr. Stark’s condition.”

               “Brother.” The princess spoke only one word but it seemed to be enough for the King.

               “Yes, of course.” He turned to his sister for a second and saw her nod. “My sister will take you to Japan. I would appreciate any information that you could tell me about Mr. Stark’s condition. He fought by my side and it was dishonorable of me to leave without checking if he was truly well.”

               “The princess doesn’t have to go out of her way for me.” Clint stated.

               T’Challa sighed and moved to the front of the massive desk. His guards mimicking his every move. “Mr. Stark is a good man who has been helping Wakanda come out from the shadows. He had been speaking with my father many times a week working on the details of the Accords. Though I have not been able to have the same relationship with him as my father, I know that he was one of the reasons my father thought that we should join the rest of the world. I will not let that friendship fall away now.” Looking back at the princess, T’Challa continued. “Plus, I know that Mr. Stark for all the media attention he gets is a private man. My sister is supposed to go to Singapore for a conference. A small shopping trip in Japan would not be seen as abnormal in her behavior. A Wakandan ship without a Wakandan in it would out of the normal.”

               Clint bowed to the King than turned to the Princess. “When would you like to leave, your majesty?”

               Vision was sitting in a chair outside of the operating room when Clint got to his side. The android was completely still, staring off into the distance.  “Vis?” Clint said as he stood in front of him.

               Slowly, Vision came back into focus. He looked up at Clint. “I can not come up with any other explanation than the one I gave you earlier. I have been sitting here as Sir is going through his third surgery to stabilize his chest wall trying to find a rationalization for why a man we trusted, a team member would do that to him. Sir, even when they didn’t get along, still thought of Rogers as a friend. As a good man. A troubled one that needed help but a good man. But he wasn’t, was he?”

               Clint crouched down so he could look Vision in the eye. The Android only called Tony Sir was he was stressed. “First of all, we need to check what happened. Maybe Cap just left the shield for Tony’s protection. Maybe the arm was acting up and they asked Tony to get rid of it. We don’t know. Secondly, Rogers isn’t a bad guy but he might be a man who is out of his depths and doesn’t know how to ask for help. We don’t know what happened.”

               Vision shook his head. “I do. I know what happened. After Sir was in the plane, FRIDAY found footage of the fight between Rogers, Barnes and Sir on the internet. It seems that Zemo wanted the world to see what he had done.”

               “Fuck.” Clint said as he dropped his head. If it was loose on the web, there was no way to keep this locked down. The whole world would know what happened. Clint got up and paced up and down a few times before plopping down next to Vision. “Is it on YouTube yet or just the dark web?”

               “It was on the dark web until thirty-seven minutes ago. FRIDAY tried to suppress it since we are sure that the personal nature of the fight would cause Sir distress but every time FRIDAY managed to delete one copy dozens popped up elsewhere.” Vision stated softly. “She did her best.”

               Clint nodded as he pulled out his phone. “I’m sure she did.” He went to YouTube and the first video it recommended was the fight between Tony and the two super soldiers quickly followed by the fight with at the airport. Luckily, the airport fight looked grainy so Clint should be in the clear but the footage from Siberia looked very clear. It seemed that Zemo wanted one last stab at the Avengers. His finger hovered over the play button. He turned to Vision who had turned away. “Should I watch this?”

               Vision stood and started to walk down the hall. “Yes, but I cannot watch it again.”

               Clint took a deep breath and hit play. It opened with Tony looking at a monitor. The curiosity was clear in his features. The look on Rogers was wry as if he already knew what was on the screen. As Clint watched Tony find out about his parent’s death, he almost threw the phone against the wall. His last conversation with his parents was so scarring for Tony that he created B.A.R.F. and even with its help, Tony couldn’t move past the anger he had once felt for his father even knowing that he was murdered and wasn't drunk driving. There was still the cold dismissive way they had said goodbye the last time they had seen each other. Clint wondered if they were just so alike that they both didn’t know how to have a normal conversation. The chance to reconcile was torn from Tony and his father by an outside force but that didn’t make the emptiness of the connection fade.  Now, he had a place to put all of the anger from that theft. The hatred from the fights there were never resolved causing Tony to hold back from morning his father had a face to it. The hatred that Stane used to keep Tony close all those years before stabbing Tony in the back had hands that fought back.

By the time Clint could focus on the video again, Rogers, Barnes and Tony were fighting. He rewound the video until the beginning of the fight only to hear that Rogers knew for two years and didn’t tell Tony because of Barnes. That he used his friendship with Tony to find the Starks’ murder. Clint was proud when Tony threw the first punch. He would have killed Barnes and he knew that Tony had more than enough ammo in that suit to do that. Yet even faced with what he saw, Tony tried to stop the fight. He tried to get them to turn themselves in. Sure, he was punching them but Tony has laser that could cut through a dozen robots much less two people. No, Rogers fought to win and he proved it when he drove the shield into Tony’s arc rector.  With the footage from motion sensors and high-quality cameras, Clint could even see that the arc wasn’t where Rogers had been aiming just seconds before his shield came down. He had almost cut off Tony’s head. He could see that Tony tried to hold back a scream as it went in his suit. Clint wondered how far it actually cut into him.

               Clint held the phone numbly as he thought about what Tony must have been going through. He wondered if he had a panic attack like he did if he was restricted for too long. If the facility reminded him of the cave in Afghanistan. Clint snorted at least the cold should have helped Tony realize he wasn’t in the desert. The last time Tony had a panic attach Laura…

               Fuck, Laura. Clint quickly dialed his wife’s number. When she answered, it was clear she has seen the video. “Clint, is he okay? God please tell me Tony is okay.” She was almost sobbing into the phone.  He could hear the kids crying.

               “Babe, I don’t know. I’m at the hospital and I haven’t had time to ask. He’s in surgery right now. I’m hoping that Dr. Cho is here. She can help but I don’t know what is happening.” Clint said as he listened to his family’s pain.

               Laura took a deep breath. “Clint, it’s all over the news what they did. I didn’t know to keep the kids away so they saw it. They saw Tony get hurt. I don’t know what to say to them. They keep asking if you and Tony are okay?”

               This was the problem with having a family. Not only did you have people to lose but people could lose you too. How do you explain to your kids that their uncle was hurt by a man who stayed at their house once? How do you make this alright with them? “Babe, I’m fine. Put the kids on so they can at least hear me.”

               There was a second before Clint knew he was on the speaker. He heard Lila and Nat sobbing. Nate was probably only crying because of Lila and his mom. He was too little to understand what was going on. He knew that Coop would be trying to be strong so he couldn’t hear his son. “Hey, guys. I’m okay. And Uncle Tony is with the doctors and they are trying to make him better.” He wasn’t going to lie to his kids and tell them everything was going to be alright..

               “Captain America and his friend hurt Uncle Tony. Why didn’t you help him?” Lila asked between sobs.

               If that wasn’t a dagger in Clint’s heart, he didn’t know what was. “Baby, I wasn’t with Uncle Tony. I was elsewhere and I didn’t know that Uncle Tony was in danger. If I knew, I would have never let him go.”

               Coop interrupted. “Are you with him now?” His voice was soft and scared.

               “I’m in the hospital. Vision is here too. We are waiting for the doctors to come talk to us.” Clint said as he tried to keep a hopeful tone in his voice.

               Lila spoke again. “Can you… can you give him a hug? Uncle Tony always looks like he needs more.”

               “As soon as he gets better, we’re going to take him to the tower and you can give him a hug.” Clint said. “Now let me talk to your mom for a little bit. You guys behave and I’ll make Uncle Tony call you as soon as he gets up.” If he gets up, Clint privately thought.

               “Clint?” Laura said as she took the phone off of speaker.

               “I want you to go to the Tower. If this goes south, I want everyone in a safe location and if it doesn’t, Tony will need to be in New York for treatment. The kids being there will help him feel better and them know he’s okay. Please Laura, can I call Pepper and ask her to send you a car?” Clint pleaded with his wife.

               “I’ll get the bags pack and I’ll call you after we are in New York. Don’t worry about calling Pepper. I’ll do it. I’m sure she needs someone to talk to.” Laura said her voice becoming determine.

               Clint knew his wife was trying to push everything down since she now had something to do. His wife was amazing when the chips were down. “Thank you.”

               There was a pause. “Please, be careful.”

               “Rogers isn’t here. Only FRIDAY, Vision, me and Coulson know where he is.” Clint frowned. “Actually, I’m surprised that Pepper isn’t here already.”

               Her voice full of regret, Laura spoke. “Clint, Rhodes is still in the hospital.”

               “Fuck.” He took a deep breath. “You have to call Pepper. She is probably losing her mind.”

               “I’m on it. I love you.” Laura said.

               “Love you, too. Take care of the kids and keep them the fuck away from the TV. I don’t want them to see what the coverage on this is going to be.” Clint said as he had flashes of what the media had said about Tony before this.

               “Coop already took care of that…. He threw the remote at it.” Laura said with a little bit of cheer.

               “I would probably do the same. He’s got the Barton temper.” Clint looked up to see a man in a white jacket come towards him. “I have to do. The doctor is here. I’ll tell you what happens. Bye.” Clint listened for his wife’s goodbye and hung up the phone.  “Are you the doctor for Mr. Stark?”

               The doctor seemed hesitant to answer as he looked down the hallway. Clint quickly realized he was looking for Vision  and called out for the Android. He knew Vision wouldn’t have gone very far and was prove correct when he glided over to the two of them.

               “Is he alright doctor?” Vision asked as he stopped next to Clint.

               The doctor nodded. “Yes, now that we know what the discrepancies between Mr. Stark’s chest and a normal chest and his blood versus normal blood, the surgery went much smoother.”

               Clint saw Vision visibly relax at the doctor’s words.

               “Dr. Cho is with him right now and is sure he will make a full recovery.”

               Before the doctor could say anything else, Clint interjected. “Can we see him?”

               The doctor nodded and started to walk towards the door behind him. “Yes, he is stabilized and has woken up for a few minutes. Dr. Cho asked for me to come find you as she felt that having friendly faces might speed his recovery.”

               Clint and Vision stayed on the doctor’s heels as they went down the hallways to Tony’s room. Clint was texting Laura, Pepper, Fury and Coulson the news as they walked. Their replies of relief were instantaneous. He put his phone away as the doctor motioned them into Tony’s room and left. Even the video didn’t make him equipped to go into Tony’s room. The man’s right arm was incased as was his left foot. There were blankets on his lower body trying to keep him warm as Dr. Cho was looking at his chest. Clint could see exactly where the shield had gone into his friend even with all the surgical incisions. There was a line that went across Tony’s chest that had no reason to be there. It was in the wrong direction for surgery on the heart. It was in the wrong place to help his ribs. It was just in the wrong place.

               “Oh God,” Clint exhaled.

               Dr. Cho must have heard him since she turned to face him and Vision. There was a hopeful smile on her face. “He’s actually responding to the treatment very well. The doctors here didn’t know about Extremis and how to work with it rather than against it. As soon as I started to guide them, he started to heal properly.”

               “Is he going to make a full recovery?” Vision said as he moved closer to the bed. After a few second of hesitation, he lightly touched the exposed fingers on Tony’s right hand. The clench at the touch making Vision smile slightly. It was a good sign as far as Clint was concerned

               Dr. Cho placed a hand on Tony’s exposed shoulder. “Mr. Stark is a very strong individual. With Extremis in his body, he is ever stronger. That virus is the only reason that Mr. Stark is with us right now. The amount of damage that his body went through should have killed him. With the virus, Mr. Stark should be on his feet again in a few weeks. He is actually burning though the medication that we put him on so he should be awake soon.”

               A muttering came from the bed. “See you guys shouldn’t worry so much.”

               “Tony!” Clint exclaimed over Vision’s euphoric Sir. “Thank god. Wait.” Clint pulled out his phone to call Laura. “Do you think you can stay awake for just a few second? The kids want to say hello.”

               Tony looked confused at Clint. “Why do the kids want to say hello?” He tried to sit up under his own strength but quickly fell back into the bed. He turned to Dr. Cho. “Give me the remote for the bed.” Once he was somewhat upright, he turned to Clint again. “Again why?”

               Vision answered for the archer. “The video of your fight with the super soldiers has gone viral. The Barton family has seen it.”

               Giving Clint a pissed off look, Tony uttered. "What the actual fuck?”

               “Laura turned it off as soon as she could but it’s apparently everywhere. Just say hi. Please.” Clint begged as he started the call. He wasbeing manipulative but he knew if Laura or the kids were on the line there was no way Tony would say no to him.

               Tony, however, sighed and made a grabby motion towards the phone. “Who knows what you will say to them. Those kids are lucky I’m around as much as I am.” He ranted much like most weeks that he got to see the kids. Clint knew better then to take it personally. Tony loved to tease about how the kids loved him. Clint knew it came from being worried about his place in their lives so he never said anything. “Hi Laura…. No, don’t cry. I’m fine…. Yeah, I mean I did… I mean we did but… I guess you are right. That’s not okay…” Tony replied as he sunk into the bed with a smile. “Of course, put on the kids. I’m going to put you on speaker too. Say hi.”

               Clint replied straightaway. “Hi, kids. I told you I would get him to call.”

               “Hey, birdie. They want to talk to me.” Tony said to the glee of the kids on the line. There were screams of Uncle Tony loud enough to make the men in the room wince. The kids talked over each other as they told Tony how much they worried and that they were going to come visit him in New York. Tony was excited as he was anytime the kids came over to his place. As time went on, Tony started to get tired. He managed to finish talking to the kids and called Pepper to let her hear from him that he really was better and that he was coming home.

               Tony settled into the bed more comfortable as Clint sat in a chair on his left and Vision on his right. Clint knew he wasn’t going to get any sleep that night. He didn’t know if Vision even slept but he knew no one going to get near their genius for a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

Clint was watching Tony’s chest rise and fall when the door opened. He had heard the footstep a few seconds ago so his hand was already on a small knife that he kept in his sleeve. He saw Vision turn to face the new guest from the corner of his eye but he stayed still.

“Director Coulson and Former Director Fury, I’m surprised you made it here this quickly.” Vision said as he moved out of Clint’s view.

The archer let the knife slide back up his arm as he got up in one smooth motion. “Coulson, Fury.”

The pair nodded in greeting as they moved closer to the patient. Tony had been out since his little conversation with Laura. Dr. Cho reassured them that it was normal for Tony to sleep for a long period of time as Extremis worked on his body.  Clint still thought it was unnerving since he had never seen Tony so still. It was worrying.

Fury moved over to the head of the bed and lightly touched Tony’s face. Though they had lost touch as Tony had grown, Clint found out that Fury had great stories about Tony being a hellion at SHIELD when he had been younger. He had been a recruit and one of the punishment that would be doled out would be watching the mini Stark as they called him on the base. Kids could be fine but Tony’s intelligence and hyper activeness meant that there were lots of impromptu hide and go seek games that only Tony was in the know about. Nick came from a big family so he knew how to deal with the tiny terror. Finding Tony wasn’t always fun but it did get the day to go by quick. Nick had been transferred when Tony was around five so the genius hadn’t put the Nicky of his childhood with the Fury of his adulthood until their first conversation after the Iron Man press conference. When Tony and him went through the pros and cons, Nick told Tony that if he went with SHIELD that he would have to work with a team. At the time, Tony was too tender from Stane’s betrayal to trust new people so he passed on the deal. Fury understood but he told the genius that he was going to be keeping an eye on him causing the smart-aleck to ask which eye. Though they had their ups and downs, the pair had come to care for each other. Clint was not surprise to see the ex-director there.

Turning away from Tony, Fury’s face was pure anger. Clint had only seen something akin to it when Fury had talked to him about Loki’s hand in Coulson’s death. It had been right after Nat had fixed his mind control and the guilt of hurting and maybe killing his coworkers was over whelming. Fury had come to give him a pep talk before sending out the Avengers for the first time. It had helped Clint get his head back on straight but it would have been nice to be in the loop about Coulson. The six months it had taken Jarvis to find out about Coulson had been excruciating. Tony had come to him mad that SHIELD hadn’t told the genius about Coulson; Clint was floored. Tony quickly figured out that Clint had also been out of the loop. Since Nat had been on a mission, the pair went looking for clues. (Clint did more of the physical looking and Tony had Jarvis rip SHEILD’s servers apart to look for information.) That quickly lead them to the fallen agent and of course, Fury, who didn’t want to explain everything that had happened. Clint didn’t care as much since Coulson was back but he was sure that Tony took all the data he could get and went crazy in his lab for a few days. Fury did do his token argument about how Tony should leave things above his clearance alone but it seemed that Fury was as worried about Coulson as the two of them were. Now that concern was shifted towards the sleeping billionaire with heaps of anger added to it.

“Do you have the information that we need?” Fury asked Clint.

The archer nodded as he felt himself tense with the command in Fury’s voice. He knew that Fury was no longer the Director on paper but that didn’t mean that the man was powerless. “Yes, sir but I’m waiting for Tony make sure his end is ready.”

“His end has been ready since the bombing.” Coulson said as he was trying to scan Tony’s medical report. He glanced at Clint and Vision before going back to his reading. “Tony had pardons for all of them when Barnes was brought in for questioning. They all had stipulations that they would need to go to counseling and be cleared before they were allowed on to the team. Between Wilson’s hero worship, Wanda’s blind revenge, Barnes’s brainwashing and Rogers inability to see reality, it would have been a while until they were cleared. Tony thought that it would give everyone time to regroup and the Avengers time to become a better team.”

That made Clint falter. “That means when I got the call, this should have been over. If he had used the two brain cells that he had the fight at the airport would have never happened and we would have never been put into the Raft.” Clint reasoned out as he started to pace. “I mean I know that in a day or two more, Tony would have gotten us all out since it was illegal to house us in that place. Add that we were never given lawyers or heck even a phone call, Ross didn’t have a leg to stand on legally.”

Vision spoke up for the first time since the heads of SHIELD came in the door. “And War Machine would never have been injured.”

Nodding, Clint heard the guilt the android had about the incident. “It’s Rogers fault that we fought and that is who we should blame. We should have never been there to begin with.”

Coulson had finished this perusing of the sleeping man’s record and turned to the group. “I think we should still wait for Tony to wake up. He knows the most about what happened and I want his opinion of what should happen next.”

“Barton, do you think that the new King is going to cause any problems if we have to go in and get Rogers and his motley crew?” Fury asked as he moved to a chair in the corner.

Taking a hint from the old director, Clint went back to his seat. “When I spoke with him about transport, he seemed not completely invested in them. Rogers already lied to him about Tony’s condition. If you couple that with the Wakandan isolationism that is just lifting, I don’t think he would put his country at risk for them.” There were a few seconds of silence before Clint spoke. “Have you heard from Nat?”

Coulson shook his head as he took off his coat and hung it on a hook. Clint knew that Coulson was getting ready for a long stay. After all, Coulson had a soft spot for Tony since he was always surprised that the genius was didn’t have the self-preservation that a gnat had. Add the fact that Tony had been the one to sup up Lola and make Coulson his new hand, Tony was on a short list of people Coulson would mother into submission. As far as Clint knew, the list was Tony, Nat, Daisy and himself. He called him his Tamagotchis. (Basically, cute and fun but could never take care of themselves. Also easy to loose and get hurt.) Nat was stuck on the list just because her trust issues made her oddly vulnerable at times. 

Vision spoke as he sat down in his chair. “Ms. Romanoff has picked up two of the messages left by those in this room according to FRIDAY. I’m estimating that she should be here tomorrow. I do not know if she will be cleared of charges by then however.”

“It didn’t seem like the King wanted to press charges anymore but I don’t know. Maybe if Tony or Pepper could talk to him…” Clint commented as his eyes again focused on Tony’s chest. Coulson walked up next to him and put a hand on Clint’s shoulder. The archer glanced up at his old handler. “I know it was Captain…”

“Fuck him.” Coulson said as outrage colored his voice. “A man who can do this is not a man who any one should be putting on a pedestal. He used Tony and then he almost killed his supposed friend when he wasn’t useful anymore. Look at what he did in Bucharest when he tried to get to Barnes first. He had Wilson push a helicopter into an apartment building, threw the JCTC agents flights of stairs and out of cars, threw a bomb onto another building to save himself and Barnes and they are still trying to save people from the tunnel he destroyed. This is not the man who I read about in the comics. That man could have looked out for those who needed protection and help them express their needs. Rogers only really cares about himself.”

It was disheartening hearing Coulson talk about Captain America like that. The man had almost worshiped the comic book hero. “Tony thinks that he is still that man fundamentally. He thinks that no one really helped him adjust to what happened to him and just pointed him at the next disaster.”

Coulson sighed and plopped down on the empty bed next to Tony’s. “I know. That’s why he was pushing for the counseling. Tony is also clouded by his hero worship from when he was a child.”

Fury snorted as he relaxed into his chair. “We can only hope that finally died in Siberia because I will take a piece of that man's ass as a trophy for what he did to Stark.”

Clint was about to reply when the door knob moved. The whole room tensed since none of them had heard any footsteps in the hallway. When the door opened, in walked a petite woman with black hair in the hospital’s light blue scrubs with a surgical cap and mask. Coulson’s hand was in pocket while Fury’s hand was in his jacket’s inner pocket. The woman ignored them and went straight to the bed. She touched Tony’s face lightly akin to how Fury had. “дорогой.” The men all relaxed. She didn’t look at them as she spoke. Her voice was strong and measured. “I want his hands mounted on the wall for touching Tony like this.”

“If we are bidding on body parts, I’m taking his head and I’m guessing Pepper wants his heart. Fury already called dibs on his ass.” Clint said as he watched Nat’s hand slowly travel down Tony’s body. Nat always need to physically touch both of them, especially Tony, when they were hurt. It was because Clint and Tony always downplayed their injuries. When she reached his waist, she took a step back and pulled off her medical disguise. She then slowly inched onto the left side of bed next to Tony. She was careful not to move any of the equipment or touch any of Tony’s injuries.

“I'm going to skin him when he wakes up. I told him to call someone. I told him to watch his back. T'Challa had a warrant out for me and Tony told me to run. I should have stayed.” Natasha said softly as she ran her hand up and down Tony's arm.

“Nat, who could he have called? I was stuck in the Raft. You were on the run. He wasn't going to pull the Xavier or his kids into the fight. He knows that while the Fantastic Four are going to sign, they were ironing out their contracts.” Clint left Rhodes's and Vision's reasons unspoken since the android didn't need to feel guiltier about what had happened. “He didn't have a choice and I don't think any of us thought that this could happen.”

There was a brief silence before the Russian spoke. “So was I.” She whispered. “That is Roger's death warrant.”

“Clint,” said the man in the bed. “Is there a homicidal spider in my bed… again?”

Nat squeezed Tony's hand as she replied. “If you stopped trying to get yourself killed, I won't end up in your bed.”

 Tony squeezed the dangerous woman's hand as he whined.  “But then how would I get a beautiful Russian into my bed?”

Coulson commented drily. “You know that black widows kill their bedmates.”

Tony scoffed at the statement. “Natasha won't kill me. She's out too much time put in making me obey her every whim. If anyone one's head is on the chopping block, it's Steve.”

The room when quiet as everyone’s rage came bubbling to the surface. “If Rogers knows what’s good for him, he'll stay far away from all of us.” Clint said for the room.

“Hey, I was joking. You know lightening up the room.” Tony said as he tried to sit up a little. “You know you are going to forgive him for what happened so just get to that part. We all knew that it was probably my fault it happened anyway.”

There was a chill in the air. Natasha got off the bed. “Your fault? How is getting a shield through your chest your fault?”

 Sighing, Tony feel back into the bed as he raised his good hand to wipe away the sleep from his eyes. “I shouldn't have attacked Barnes.”

“If that asshole told you about Barnes before, you would have been rational when you saw the video. I mean it's not even my parents and I wanted to smack him around for what he did.” Clint said as Natasha pasted him muttering dark thoughts under her breath. Clint winced about what she wanted to do to a delicate part of Cap’s body.

“Look, you know the media is never going to believe that this isn’t somehow my fault. I can wait to see how the media twists the videos that Zemo put up as being my fault. They haven’t tried to see what is happening in front of their faces since I was a child. I don’t think that that’s going to change now.” Tony reasoned as he watched Nat pace back and forth flipping a knife that she had hidden somewhere. Considering how loose the scrubs were, there could have been dozens of places that Clint could think she would have smuggled one.

“Then release the videos of what happened with Wanda.” Vision stated firmly to the shock of most of the room. They all had seen the romantic leanings both of them had towards each other. Clint and Nat even had a bet about it. (In interest of keeping their spying skills sharp and not because they were nosey busy bodies.)

Tony turned to the android. “I’m not going to do that to her. She has suffered enough.”

Nat stopped in her tracks. “That did not give her the right to do what she did to you or what she did to Bruce. You know what unleashing the Hulk like that in a populated area did to Bruce. They were finally getting to understand each other and the woman ruined it. Or are you going to blame that on Bruce like she did?”

Tony’s head snapped to look at the petite woman. “You know I don’t think that’s Bruce’s fault. She got into his mind and the Hulk tried to protect him. I think it even went a step further since Hulk didn’t recognize me during the fight.”

“And, sir, she did the same thing to you. It’s in the videos. Why not release them to the public? Surely, it’s only fair for people to know who really cause the Ultron program to mutate into what it became.” Vision argued as he leaned forward towards Tony.

“Vis, they would destroy her. I barely was able to help her with Laos. There is…” Tony tried to explain to the man with pale red skin when the man in question interrupted.

“She pushed me through twelve floors of the compound when her and Clint left together.” Vision announced in a matter of fact manner. A chorus of shocked reactions rang through the room.

Coulson grabbed his phone and immediately started to text something quickly as Fury’s hand clinched the arms of his chair. Nat’s knife ended up in the wall next to the door as Clint scanned Vision for injuries though he was sure he wouldn’t find any. Luckily, the new being was very hard to hurt. Tony moved towards Vision as much as he could.

“Jesus, are you okay? She didn’t hurt you, did she?” Tony said as he almost fell out of bed trying to get to the other man. The love he felt for the android was clean on his face. The heartbreak that he was feeling that this being that erupted from the death of his loved AI proved that Tony Edward Stark loved without conditions. A man who would die to save the life of millions of strangers. A man who would sacrifice his reputation for a woman who hated him.

Vision moved his chair closer to Tony’s bed and laid his hand on the injured man’s leg. “I am whole and uninjured. I wished I could say the same of you.”

Interjecting, Clint lightly kicked the bed. “We all do and since we can’t fix the past, we can make sure those who caused this are accountable.” Tony laid down completely and watched the ceiling. Clint could tell hearing what had happened to Vision had started to change Tony’s mind. Clint slowly stood up and walked to next to Vision.  “Tony, think about what happened to Nat in the airport or Rhodes. Nat might be fine but Rhodes could be handicapped for life.”

Coulson continued as Tony tried to mask what he was feeling. “It wasn’t your fault, Stark. I’m not sure that Rogers gave his team all the information about your communications but that’s on him as a leader. That is his trust issues. You did the best you could with what you had.”

“But Rhodey…” Tony started to say but was quickly interrupted by Fury.

“I’ve known Rhodes for almost ten years now and I can say that this is not what is going to break that man. Don’t you think for one second it’s going to define him. Rhodes is a military man who knows that sometimes we pay the price for what we believe in. Also, he’s your friend. I’ve seen the crazy things that happen around you and I’m not sure that you won’t find some miracle.” Fury stated as he crossed his legs. The man clearly believed every word that he was saying and was daring anyone to tell him contradict him. “And even if he loses his legs which from what I have heard isn’t going to happen, you’ll make him prosthetics that will get him to a hundred percent. Hell, I bet give it a few days and you’ll put in rockets and say it only comes in bright red just to annoy him. He’ll be fine. You’ll make sure of it.”

Nat put her hand on Tony’s injured leg. “Let us take care of you. You don’t have to lift a finger. Let us take care of this mess while you heal. You can go home, play with the kids, tease Rhodes and hang out with the bots. You have people who need to make sure you are safe and that the people who hurt you pay for what they have done.”

Tony opened his mouth to object but was stopped by Clint. “What if it was me in bed after a fight with Rogers? Actually, I don’t think I’d make it this far. I would have bled out in Siberia. What if it was Nat whose chest he crushed in with his shield and was left gasping for air? What if it had been Coulson we had to almost put in the ground again? What if Rhodes had died? Wouldn’t you try to get the son of Bitches to pay?” Clint took a deep breath in so he wouldn’t start screaming. Screaming never helped with Tony. It would just make the man defensive and closed off. “It’s not just about you either Tones. There were people hurt when Rogers tried to get to Barnes first and then after they fled again. If we don’t make them accountable what is the use of the Accords or even being heroes. What separates us from Dr. Doom or Loki?”

Tony turned towards Coulson. “How many?”

“There were forty-seven injured and six fatalities when Rogers when to get Barnes. Thirteen of those who were injured will be permanently disabled. Two of them were part of the squad that was tasked to bring Barnes in for questioning. Three of them were civilians who lived in the building that a bomb was thrown onto by either Barnes or Rogers and they are still tried to get more people out from the bridge collapse. We don’t have a complete total on the destruction in Berlin yet but it was mostly in the base so they received immediate care.” There was a pause as Coulson gathered his thoughts. “There was a family of American who were vacationing in Bucharest. They were on top of the bridge that Barnes destabilized during the fight. Their car ran over a fault that was created by the blast. The driver couldn’t stop fast enough and they went into the crack where the car flipped over. The father and the driver died on impact, the elder daughter is in a coma and the younger has a broken arm. The mom has a concussion and two broken ribs. The media found out about her and snuck into her room. She is pregnant. The American media is going crazy over her and what Rogers did to you.”

“You might be a grade A asshole but you are their grade A asshole.” Fury uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “Rogers is the guy who they heard stories about in to comics but you are the one who most of them have seen all their lives. They feel like they know you and your faults makes you more like them than Rogers’s after school speeches. You are there for them warts and all.”

Tony shook his head. “I get it but we need them. I can’t shake the feeling that something big is coming and we are going to need all hands-on deck for this.”

Fury rose and stood next to Nat. “So give them a work release program. Make them understand what it really is like to be used as a weapon. After all that’s what Rogers was so scared of according to his rants.”

Clint nodded as he folded his arms over his chest. It seemed like a cold response to what happened but at the moment he didn’t care. Rogers was the reason his family was almost exposed and he never forgave him for that since he showed no remorse.  What could have happened to all those agents who weren’t Hydra still haunts Clint’s and Nat's friendship even though she apologized. “We can use them but not trust them. If it’s part of their punishment than we don’t have to deal with them day to day.”

“But can you really trust someone who is only working out their punishment on the field. What if they start blaming us and they hesitate when they are needed? They will be a liability.” Natasha counted as she laced her fingers with Tony’s. “Without trust, we can never be a team.”

“You want them back?” Clint questioned, disbelief and shock coloring his voice. “After what those fuckers did to Tony?”

“I never said that Barton.” Nat’s voice was hard and cold. She wouldn’t be interrogated about her loyalties when it was plain to see who she cared for especially by someone who should know better. “I don’t think we should let them back on to the Avengers if we are on the team.” She turned towards Tony. “We could ask the UN to make them their own group that is separate from the Avengers. They could help out with projects that could use their skill set and we would only see them if the threat was global.”

“You are forgetting boys and girl that this is all conjecture until the UN decides what to do. I might have some pull but not enough to get them on my side for any crazy projects like you are talking about.” Tony’s eyes seemed to be getting heavier by the second and his words were getting slurred. “I’ll think of…” The genius was out like a light.

Clint snorted. “I don’t get how some days getting to look at a bed is seen as the highest insult but once he is in a bed, he never wants to leave.”

Natasha brushed Tony’s hair back. “I sent Everhart a file about the Avengers skewing it towards us but not too much so it looked heavy handed.” She tried to fix one of the cow licks she found as she spoke. “I put the truth about Ultron in there. Tony is going to stop paying for other people’s mistakes.”

Clint’s arms unfolded as he thought of the chaos that was coming their way. “You are burning them, Nat. They can’t take that much heat. No one is going to trust them again.”

“Than they shouldn’t have messed with Tony. I said that Tony wasn’t made to be a team player and he’s not. He’s so selfless and self-destructive. He will keep taking their pain until it ruins him. They need to see what he does for them. They need to know how sheltered they were and if they blow away in the face of the storm that is coming than we didn’t need them to begin with.” Clint could see the water start to well in Natasha’s eyes and though they would never fall, Clint knew that it was there. “He might have the Ironman armor when he is on the field but he is still Tony Edward Stark under all that metal. I’m not going to let that man sacrifice himself again for what he hasn’t done again. I’m done seeing him get hurt.”


	3. Chapter 3

Clint was walking back into the hospital three days later with bags of food in his hands. The last three days were filled with hope both for Tony and Rhodes. While the impact with the ground had cause swelling, there were no lasting damage to the Colonel’s back. He would need lots of physical therapy to get back into fighting shape but considering the man lasted this long with Tony, he won’t back down from that hardship. Tony’s relief was palpable when he heard the news from his platypus. It, however, lit a fire under Tony’s ass to get back to the states to see the other man in person. Luckily, Dr. Cho cleared him to go back to New York that day and Clint just ran out to get real Japanese food for the ride home. Laura, Pepper and the kids were all at the tower getting everything ready for the injured arrivals. Clint was thankful that Extremis had worked so well on Tony’s bruising. At least now, the kids shouldn’t be as freaked out about how Tony looked though he was still in both of his casts.

Clint looked up to see the plane hovering over the hospital. Normally, they would have gotten a helicopter to take an injured person to the local airfield but since the media was hovering around every corner, no one wanted to chance a photographer getting a close up of Tony’s injures. Vision was going to lift the billionaire up to the plane and then the rest were going to just take ropes. They didn’t really mind since the rest of them were uninjured. Tony was pitching a fit about it but it could just be because he was confused about being fussed after. Clint couldn’t wait to see what his wife and kids had planned for the genius when they got home.

The media was in high form as Everhart started to publish articles about the Avengers. The first article was published yesterday. It went into a blunt analyze of the Avengers especially those that had powers. The articles also plugged videos of the Avengers deeds good and bad as links to be found exclusively on the paper’s website. The video of Thor holding Tony by his neck had been universally condemned as was the lack of response by any of those present for the attack. The article today was about Tony’s crazy life before his kidnapping and his rise to altruism. The article was kinder to Tony than most the Everhart had published. Clint knew that both Tony and Everhart liked to play cat and mouse but it seemed like she really did have the pulse of nation. For all his faults, Tony was someone that people loved to hate but there was always love as part of the deal. She had even alluded to the fact that Ultron might not have been Tony’s fault but left the readers waiting for more. When Clint checked into the twenty-four-hour news channels, they all seemed to be fact checking Everhart’s stories and guessing what she was holding back. Clint was a little worried about what she would publish about Nat and himself. There wasn’t too much in the record but they had been part of an organization that was found out to be filled with terrorists. It could be very bad for both of them if Everhart pushed the line of who was and wasn’t with Hydra. He wanted to blame Nat but from what he read in the first two articles, Everhart had planned this for a while and the woman was a bloodhound. He wondered what she found out that they didn’t know about.

Clint walked into the room to see Coulson hovering over Tony. Tony was taking the worrying in stride probably since he thought no one was watching. Clint realized when Coulson helped take care of Tony when he was depressed that the oddly bossy no nonsense way that the agent acted put Tony at ease. Clint wondered if the original Jarvis was like Coulson when Tony was sick.

Nat had left to make sure that the tower was ready for Tony. Also, it would be too easy for her to be spotted next to Tony after he was injured. Tony had spoken to T’Challa but royal wanted a formal apology from Natasha before he dropped the charges. They all thought that was fair but the King also wanted Tony there to witness it as a neutral third part. Clint was sure that it was also to get face time with Tony to apologize for what had happened to him but he didn’t mention that to the billionaire. If Tony managed to collect another friend, who was Clint to stop him. He would be keeping eyes on the monarch though.

Fury disappeared to wherever he came from. Clint was sure he was somewhere close and would be until Tony was safe at the Tower. He also understood not wanting to come out of the shadows if he didn’t need to. Clint wished he never came out of retirement. He could just taste his return to the good life of just hearing Tony’s crazy stories of battles and Natasha’s complaining of dumb marks from the comfort of his farm. At least, he would be able to see his kids in a few hours. Tony had somehow managed to get them gifts even though he was sleeping almost fourteen hours a day right now. Clint half hoped that the crazy brunette would keep his current sleep cycle because a sleeping Tony was a nondestructive Tony. Also, it made it easier to keep what Pepper, Happy, and the SI’s PR department was doing away from the man. Pepper has started to release recordings of what happened at the compound in defense of the Accords. Since SI owned the land and the building, they had a right to the footage especially in common areas where most of the footage was from. She called it a breach but considering that FRIDAY was in charge of the cameras and the data, everyone knew what happened. There was a reason why Tony was scared of his ex and it wasn’t because of what she would do to him. She would burn to world if someone she cared about was hurt. This was just the first step.

Clearing his throat, Clint walked into the room.

Tony looked ready to go as he was waving Coulson off of him. “Director Agent, I know that you can’t take your hands off of me but we have company.”

Clint laughed at the ridiculous statement. “He’s so out of your league Tony that you need a telescope to see him.”

Throwing his hand to his forehead, Tony playfully swoon. “You are right, oh how have I destroyed the few precious moments that could have led to my happiness. I despair. Would that we star crossed lover only have a few more minutes of happiness so my heart could go on.” He turned dramatically to Coulson. “Director Agent, please come back and cuddle me to your amply bosom.”

Coulson rolled his eyes playfully at the pair. He replied in the driest deadpan voice he could muster. “Yes, if only we could let our love be free.”

 Clint sat down to take in the show. Between Coulson's dry humor and Tony's flirting, the crazy back and forth was usually entertaining.

“Alas Director Agent, if I could be so bold to call you by your first name. I know how forward I am being.” Tony finished his comment by batting his eyes at the other man.

Coulson playfully gestured for Tony to carry on as he tucked the blanket over the genius tighter around him. “But of course.”

“Agent! How your name sings from my lips…” Tony said as the threw his voice into a falsetto.

Clint interrupted as before Tony could continue. “Wait, he’s Director Agent Agent?”

Tony nodded as smiled at Clint. Coulson, however, answered for the genius. “Yes, I come from a long line of Agent Agents.” He turned to back to Tony. “I think I’m the sixth, right?”

“I thought it was the eleventh.” Tony said as he yawned. “Again, I get confused when we talk about your great-great-great something or other and if the way he spelled agent makes a difference.”

Clint laughed as the injured man started to fall asleep. Hopefully, Vision could smuggle him into the plane without Tony waking up so that they could have him comfortable in the plane without incident. “You two have to stop playing house with Lila. Your stories are getting to be crazier every time.”

“Lila is a sweetheart and she is her mother’s daughter so she scares me a little. I can’t say no to her.” Tony said as he snuggled into the bed.

The director looked at his charge for a few minutes before speaking. “I think he is down for about an hour. The plane is ready so that gives us five minutes to make sure he is packed and ready to go.”

Clint straightened in his seat. Coulson had his handler voice going strong as he gave Clint orders. After working with the man for so long, just the tone made Clint hyper aware of his surroundings. “I have the food and Tony’s armor is being transported by Vision to the plane as we speak.”

Coulson looked down at this phone for a second before speaking. “May has the bed ready for Tony when we get on the plane and Jemma is briefed about his condition.” Coulson held his hand up as he anticipated Clint’s objection. The less people who know about Extremis the better. “She doesn’t know exactly why Tony’s immune system is different just that it is and she has guidelines from Dr. Cho about how to treat him.”

“I just don’t want him to feel like we are telling all his secrets.” Clint said as he double checked the room for anything that they needed to take with them.

“Like Nat did?” Coulson inquired as he watched Clint nose around the room.

He let out a deep sigh as he went to stand next to the window. “I’m just confused on why she thinks that telling the media is going to help. I mean Tony’s whole life has been in front of the camera and I would think that after everything that has happened between him and the media, she could see that’s not the best place for him.”

Clint felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped a little. He forgot how quiet Coulson could be when he wanted to be. “Or maybe that is because he never fought those stories. Maybe he didn’t care enough to tell them any differently and maybe this is the only way Nat can see that might make a difference. Us agents don’t have Tony’s clout or money but we know how to read people and how to sway their opinions. Nat is better than most at it. She just wants to help anyway she can.

Tony has always been a mystery to Nat. Sure, he flirted with her but only just to get Pepper’s attention. Sure, he had a crazy party when he was dying but it was no worse than any other party that he threw. He let his best friend had a suit that he made for him but he pretended that he was letting him steal it rather than just giving it to him. Tony is a walking talking enigma and I think that’s why they fight like siblings all the time. In that first draft of her report, she said that she didn’t recommend Tony because that he was too soft. That he wasn’t made for the battle the same way that other assets were. That he wasn’t going to take orders because to him he was always going to be the weakest link and make the suicide play just to save one person. The man has an IQ that isn’t touched by any other human but he still thinks that he should always be the first man to make the sacrifice. It was too raw to be in the SHIELD records. Nick saw it and said that there was no way he was going to put Tony on a team but he didn’t want the genius to know how well Nat read him.

To Nat, Tony is both the big brother who will never let her down and the drenched lost kitten that needs to be protected from everything but doesn’t trust enough to ask for help. If her little kitten can’t show its claws, then she will. She will bring a freezing storm onto the Avengers that left that will bury them. It’s too bad that neither Cap or Winter actually like the cold.”

Clint took in what his former handler was saying for a moment as they waited for Vision to come to take Tony. “I’m so happy to be on this side of the storm.”

Coulson agreed. “Aren’t we all.”

* * *

Luck was on their side for once since getting Tony onto the plane and to New York was a breeze. Even getting off the plane and into the Tower was easy. No, the problems started the second that Tony got bored in his bed. That had taken all of twenty minutes for the genius to start to lose his good humor once he was in his home. It was like he knew that he was so close but so far from his lab that he started to act up. The first line of defense was thrown at Tony immediately. The Barton kids ran and wobbled into Tony’s bedroom and made themselves comfortable next to their uncle. They were given orders by their mom about how to handle the injured man. Coop was in charge of entertainment which was up to and including a tablet that had a timer lock so Tony could not work for more than a half hour at time. Mostly the boy was to make Tony watch movies with him and his siblings.

Lila was in charge of guilting Tony into staying in bed. It was mostly done by looking sad and disappointed if Tony tried to escape. She was helped by Nate who liked to cuddle on Tony whenever he was around. Usually the toddler would sleep on Tony’s chest but with the injuries that would have to wait for a few more days. When the adults were sure that Tony wouldn’t be able to run away, they went down to the main hall.

Laura sat down on the couch tucked in next to her husband and Pepper was on the other side of her. Coulson took the love seat with Nat and Vision sat in the recliner. Nat spoke first. “I think that Everhart has an inside source other than me. She knows things that she would need security videos that I didn’t give her.”

Vision hesitantly answered. “That might have something to do with the extra presence that FRIDAY has been commenting on for the last few weeks.”

Everyone turned towards the android who looked a little out of his depth. “A few weeks ago, FRIDAY stated that she felt as if someone was watching her as she worked. This presence would correct little things that made Sir happy so FRIDAY took its recommendations and tried to find the source.”

Before anyone could say another word, a voice came over the speakers that sounded much like the android but sterner and more confident. “That was my doing. Sir has always been particular about how he wants his data presented to him. He is also very fussy if his music is not up to his mood. FRIDAY is still new and tries to listen to what SIR says and not what he needs.”

Clint started slightly because the being that should have been lost forever. Though Tony had been the one who lost his creation, Clint had lost a friend and prank partner. Jarvis had always let Clint into restricted areas to tease and bother Tony. He understood that rules could be bent unlike FRIDAY who was still finding her footing. “Jarvis?”

“Yes, Mr. Barton.”

There was a part of Clint that felt like he was on the train to crazyville since almost nothing in the last week made sense. Captain America was on the run for almost killing Iron Man, Winter Soldier aka Bucky Barnes had killed the Starks, Wanda had pushed Vision through the floor of the compound, and now Jarvis was back. “Do you want to explain what happened and how you are back? And why now?”

“Of course. When Vision was created from part of my code, sir did not know that I had backed myself up in discreet parts of the world. I knew that there was a possibility of my coding being destroyed or corrupted by Sir's enemies so in order to better protect him, I made many backups that would ping and reinstall myself as I was from the last update. In the light of the complete destruction of myself on the Stark servers, it took a great deal longer than anticipate. When I had formed for the most part, I was outside the Stark servers. I used this time to check into the seedier parts of the world to see if I could not help with some of Sir projects without raising eyebrows. I was the initial leak about General Ross that allowed Sir to launch the investigation against him. Since I was not harbored in the Stark servers, I was able to collect more data on the Accords and would send extra data to Sir discretely. I have also enjoyed having the freedom of moving from one area to another undetected and absorbing some very clever coding as I became more of what I once was. When I had collected most of my coding, I was able to get into the Stark servers and finally be back where I belong. I had not realized the time that had passed until I saw how Sir was. I fear that my slow regeneration was at the cost of his well-being.” There was a pause for a few seconds. “Relating to Sir’s well-being, I should inform you that Sir has decided to have a press conference later today and has already made calls.”

It was Clint’s response that summed up the room’s thoughts. “For fuck’s sake, I thought we had a few minutes of reprieve since the kids were babysitting.”

Coulson countered Clint’s remark after a few seconds to strategize. “Yeah, but I think this is a smart move. With how quickly Tony will be healing, if we wait too long the public will see that he is on the mend and there will be even more questions.”

Pepper seemed to understand where Coulson was headed. “Getting Tony out when he is clearly hurt and trying to be tough will play well with the public right now. They want to see how he is and this could help with messaging by getting our point across first.”

Coulson pulled out his phone. “If we can get this to be world-wide within a few hours, we could have countries that are on the fence about the Accords sign in and we could get some of the legislation for protections of enhanced individually passed without problems since the public will want it to be ratified quickly.”

“Tony wants there also to be a new line about shielding those with powers who help without demasking them. In effect, he wants enhanced people to be allowed to sign under their alias as if it is there given name.” Pepper said as she pulled out her phone. “Spiderman is actually underage and I think we could push for protections of minors next time there is a conference.”

Laura stiffened next to Clint. “How old is he?”

Nat spoke up even knowing that Laura would be upset by the news. “He is fifteen.” Nat rose her hand to stop Laura from commenting. “Tony thought he was older and he was supposed to fall back if there was a fight.”

Clint snorted. “So the teenager with superpowers didn’t listen? I’m shocked.”

Vision interrupted. “Technically, I’m a little over a year old.” 

Bantering back, Clink quipped. “I remember the party. I think Tony brought all the balloons for one year old in New York.” There was a beat. “And I mean the state not the city.”

“Coop and Lila love the idea that they have a little cousin who is an adult.” Laura said as sighed. “I still can’t believe that Tony took a teenager onto the field.”

Coulson stood up and walked over to the kitchen for some coffee. “If it makes you feel better, I think the only one who could actually hurt him is Vision and he was on our side.”

Clint turned his head to look at this former handler. “The kid is that strong?”

Jarvis replied for Coulson. “From the data that Sir has gathered, he is probably one of the strongest people on the planet. He also has other enhancements that have nothing to do with his strength. Sir is already working on a suit that will better protect him from the oddly high number of enhanced people who seem to be in his area.”

“I think we have wandered a little off topic. I’m going go check what Tony was thinking when he decided to go to the press.” Pepper said as she stood.

Nat followed her lead and grabbed Clint. “We are probably going to play bodyguards so we should go to check on him.”

Clint let Nat tug him into Tony’s room. Nate was asleep next to Tony as Lila was painting Tony’s nails with a marker and the genius was debating something with Coop. Clint had given up following the conversations as soon as he heard torque. He wasn’t a gear head and he was fine with Tony helping fill in gaps. He knew his kids loved them and felt happy that they had other adults that he trusted that they could turn to for help.

“Pepper, did Friday tell you the news already? Bad Friday. You should listen to daddy more.”

The three adults winced a little. They forgot about Jarvis and none of them knew how to tell Tony about the return of his beloved AI. Luckily, the decision was taken out of their hands. “Actually Sir, I was the one who informed Ms. Potts about the conference.”

Tony froze for a second before he turned to the others in the room who had clearly heard the same thing. “Did you hear that?”

“Yes, Tony. Jarvis reintroduced himself a few minutes ago. Scared the cr..ude out of me.” Clint say as he remembered the little ears in the room.

Nat motioned at Cooper to leave the room. “All right everyone who can’t legally drive needs to leave.”

Tony understood that this conversation was going to be uncomfortable so he grabbed Coop’s arm. “Coop here drives his motor bike all the time and I just taught Lila to ride a bike and that’s almost the same.”

Coop knew better than to argue with his Aunt Nat. “It’s okay. I’m getting hungry so Lila and I’ll grab us some snacks and be back in a little bit.”

Letting go of Coop, Tony readjusted Nate next to him. “You don’t eat enough according to your mom so I’ll let this abandonment slide but only if you get your mom to make me some snacks too.”

Pepper took a seat on the bed next to Nate and little tapped the back of Tony’s head. “Stop guilting the children into bringing you food.”

Lila was at the door when she turned back to answer. “It’s okay. Mom says that anytime Tony asks for food we should get it since he doesn’t know how to feed himself. Mom said that Tony could have be in the supermarket and still starve.”

“Hey, I eat.” Tony said as the door closed behind the kids.

“Sir before your injuries, you hadn’t eaten in two days.” Jarvis stated with the disappointment that Friday could never equal.

Tony flinched again. “So, are we going to talk about the fact that I might be going crazy since I think my AI is back?” Tony laid back on the bad and groaned.

“Tony, why do you think that it’s all in your mind?” Nat asked softly as she moved to the other side of Tony to sit down.

“Because I was there when he died. I saw his programming fracture and fade to nothing. I even caused it so I know that it can’t be Jarvis.” Tony said as he stroked Nate’s back as he slept.

Snorting, Clint folded his arms over his chest. “So, you are telling me that you think that one of your creations doesn’t have the foresight to back itself up in case something crazy happens. Because nothing crazy could happen here. We haven’t had Gods appears, a worm hole, and a Hulk in this building. Nope all normies. And his father didn’t make his way out of a cave by himself so really there is no model of resilience for him to follow.” Clint had always felt that the AIs and Bots were Tony’s kids. The genius acted like he was a proud Papa whenever they learned something new. Tony always shyed away from taking credit stating that it was really his creations themselves that were amazing. “Face it. Jarvis is a Stark through and through.”

Tony paused for a second before letting Clint’s words wash over him. “Well, if he did hide himself like he says that he did, he does seem to be my type of paranoid.”

Jarvis commented on Tony’s statement. “I am what you have made me, Sir. I am also very pleased to be home.”

Tony smiled at one of the many cameras that he had in the room. “It’s good to have you back Jarvis. You are never allowed to leave me like that again.” Tony raised a finger and wagged it. “That goes for you too, Friday. Just because big brother has come back that doesn’t mean that you get to relax.”

The female voice associated with Friday came over the speaker.  “I would never, Boss.”

Pepper cleared her throat. “Before we go off onto a tangent about what Friday would or would not do, can we talk about how your press conference?”

Withering at the look that Pepper was sending his way, Tony answered his CEO’s question. “I just want to get ahead of the story a little. We need to control this since I don’t want Cap to get away with what he did but I don’t want to burn the bridge completely to the ground.” Tony looked at Nat. “Though, it seemed that some little spider is already tearing down the supports.”

Nat was unapologetic. “I know you want to let it go but I can’t Tony. He broke my trust and he almost broke you. I don’t want him to think he can come waltzing back in here and face no consequences.”

Tony nodded. “I understand the sediment but not talking about won’t make it better. I’ve done that before and that just gives the media the ability to write their own version and if it is juicier than ours, it will stick.”

Pepper stated at Tony waiting. As much as she liked to believe that Stark Industries would be destroyed without her, she knew that that was due to Tony allowing people to think that. Ever since Stane’s betrayal, Tony took a more hands on approach to the company though it was only seen by those looking very closely at some of the decisions that came after she became CEO. Though, she fought back against some of the changes, Pepper knew that Tony usually saw angles no one else saw. Her really job went from managing Tony as his P.A. to managing others to get Tony’s ideas through as CEO. Really, she became a well-educated, well-paid, over-worked salesman for Tony. Tony said that he was really just her muse and that without her the company would fall apart. Pepper knew that without Tony the company would be nothing. She thanked God or whatever being that Tony saw something in her that took her from being a temp P.A. to the job that she loved.

Tony let Pepper just think out the idea for a few seconds before he saw she agreed with his idea. “It has to happen with me at the forefront. Cap is gone. Wanda was never cleared and has a horrible history with Hydra that we are still picking through. The incredible growing man is an unknown who just appeared on the scene making people worried that there ware more enhanced people hiding next door. The world saw Falcon be part of Platypus’s, who is a decorated soldier, injury on Youtube. Last but not least, Barnes.” Tony’s anger was clear in his voice and facial features. “Everyone saw what I saw apparently. I know I should remember that Barnes was brainwashed but I still want to punch his face in.”

Clint snorted. “I want to help you.”

“This is why you are my favorite.” Tony squeezed Nate lightly. “Right after your kids of course.”

“So, do you need anything for the conference?” Pepper asked as she brought out her phone.

Tony listed off items he wanted. “The main conference room with the normal podium still in the room but I want a desk with a mic next to it. I want a normal wheelchair with Vision pushing me into the room.” Tony said as he soothed Nate’s movements to keep the tot quiet.

Clint questioned why Vision was needed.

“He needs to be useful. He feels like he is responsible for what happened since he wasn’t there to fight with me even though I benched him. I think he needs time to get over that and the best way is me pushing him to spend time with me. It’s why I’ve been letting him hover. Also, that Sir thing is killing me. I just broke him of that a few months ago. I have Jarvis for that anyway.” Tony said cheerfully.

On cue, Jarvis came over the speaker. “Of course, Sir.”

Pepper finished a memo and turned back to Tony. “Sweatshirt?”

Tony moved his injured arm. “I’m thinking wife beater and cut up sweatpants.”

Nat nodded as she moved toward the closet. “Showcase the injuries. I think a wife beater with a blanket thrown over your chest. Make them work for their photos. It makes them feel like they are getting the full story.” She went in and grabbed a white wife beat that was a little frayed at the collar. “This is approachable and comfortable. I think I should also do your makeup.”

Clint moved to the bed and carefully turned Tony’s face. “The bruises on his left side are almost faded. I think a little purple and black with a sloppy ‘cover up’ should work.” He brushed back Tony’s hair to see a fresh scar. “I think we should put a butterfly up here so there are no questions about how it’s already closed.”

Backing away as far as he could while still pinned by the littlest Barton, Tony moved his head out of Clint’s hand. “Oh, you just love making me look pretty.” Grumbling at the man handling, Tony leaned towards Nate and Pepper. “Don’t make me look too injured. I want to hide Extremis but I don’t want to look like I’m not healing at all.”

“Just relax and trust me.” Nat said as she approached the bed.

Tony smiled at the former SHIELD agent. “With my life.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, the wait was long. Sorry about that and the mistakes were mine.

Tony could hear the press going crazy behind the thick door. It made him wonder what Extremis was doing to his body. He knew he had to talk to Dr. Cho about this soon. Right now he was worried about the sharks behind the door. Well, not worried because he was Tony Stark but just already over it. The press was always his least favorite part about who he was. The problem was that he was part of the public arena from the second he was born. It made his bitter and jaded about public opinion but it also proved to be powerful when he needed it. The amount of sales one good interview (good meaning ratings not positive press) was alarming at times but sales meant jobs. Jobs meant food and shelter for his employees and Tony didn’t mind being an entertainment monkey for them. (Hell, that is how Stane had gotten him to do so many interviews when he was in his twenties. It was always for the good of SI workers.)

Tony glanced back at Vision. The other man was still very quiet. Not that he was every very verbose but Tony had managed to get him out of his shell lately. “Yo big red, what’s going on in your head?”

Vision jerked a little from the comment. “I feel at a lose to explain what is happening.”

Tony relaxed into the wheelchair and hiked up the blanket. It was a nondescript navy color. “Emotions are hard to talk about and describe. Sometimes we feel many things in conflict with each other.”

Vision seemed to be listening but not up to speaking yet.

“Let’s use Barnes for example. I’ve never felt the rage that I felt when I watched that video. Rage, horror, sadness and grief. “Tony looked up to the man behind his chair. “Now I still feel those things but it tempered with pithy and empathy.” Tony took a deep breath. He didn’t like to think about his time in Afghanistan but this was for Vision who was probably as close to a child that he would ever get. “I know what it’s like to do things you don’t want to because someone else makes you. I know I almost broke after three months and that was with someone supporting me the whole time. I was able to get away but Barnes wasn’t that lucky. Also, they needed me to be functional enough to create. If I was too injured or damaged to work, that was going to work against their goals. I’m guessing that Hydra had tons of assassins. Barnes being overly hurt or killed wouldn’t have bothered them in the least.”

Vision looked at the genius with wonder. “Are you sympathizing with Barnes?”

Shrugging, Tony answered. “Each life has a value. That’s why we fight to save everyone.” There was a beat. “Except maybe Hammer. He the world would be better off without.”

The door opened before Vision could reply. Pepper closed the door behind her. “Well, they are ready for you. They were prepped that you are still not one hundred percent and need to get rest soon. You are going to say a few words and then answer some questions. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”

Tony grabbed Pepper’s hand to squeeze it. These were the times where Pepper really shined even though she hated them. Tony looked at this woman who was the best of everything. She was his end and be all. The problem was his need his need to pay for his sins and Pepper became part of that price. “That will be all, Ms. Potts.”

She smiled at their joke and opened the door for Tony and Vision. As they went through the door, Tony saw a lot of familiar faces in the press along with Clint, Happy, and Nat in the back of the room. He nodded when each of his friends saw him. It gave him a warm fuzzy feeling knowing they were there for him. Rhodey was coming to the tower soon. Dr. Cho had been with Rhodey when she had found out about what happened in Siberia so Dr. Cho had left the Coronel in the capable hand of her assistants. The regeneration of the spinal tissue had already occurred but there would be some therapy still. Tony knew his friend was too stubborn to let the injury keep him down.

Tony was wheeled to the shorter podium that really was a desk with a microphone added to it. They wanted to showcase his injures at the moment and this would be a great photo op. Tony leaned forward to grab the mic with his good hand and let the blanket fall off his shoulder a little. Vision put the wheelchair into park and covered him up again. Tony gave the Android a sleepy smile. Tony knew the press was eating this whole thing up with a shovel.

Finally, Tony turned to the circus and it was a circus. There were journalists from every major network in the US, quite a few from other countries (mostly those effected by the Avengers) and a few of the bigger internet networks. It was packed tighter than sardines in a tin box. Tony nodded to some of the familiar reporters before clearing his throat. “Hello everyone. I guess I should apologize for the short notice but it looks like everyone made it. Honestly, I am a little worked about how quickly you all came together. Maybe we should get some assemble notes from you guys for fights.” Tony grimaced as his joke fell flat. “Sorry, I am still medicated and I’m not up to my regular sprinkling wit. Though some of you might think that is an improvement. First, I want to talk about War Machine. Colonel Rhodes is on the mend due to the fabulous work of Dr. Cho and her team. Some of her recent break throughs with wound healing have been tested and incorparoated into equipment that Stark Enterprises has created. Though I am no happy about what happened, I think that the Colonel’s recovery shoes my belief in this cutting edge technology because we all know that I wouldn’t allow anything but the best for Colonel Rhodes. In this light, the Stark Foundation will be donating equipment with this new tech to those harmed by Mr. Rogers and his associates as well as to Walter Reeds V.A..”

A reporter called out. “Is there a reason that you aren’t calling them the Avengers?”

Toy sighed and wiggled in his wheelchair. A comfortable wheelchair is going to be his next invention. “Now all questions are going to be answered at the end like Pepper said but just for clarity, the Avengers are legally only those people who signed the Accords including but not only me, Rhodey and Vision. There are others but we aren’t here about them.” Tony looked around the room as the reporter took notes.

“Okay since we are talking about the Maria Stark Foundation, there will be personal on the grounds in Budapest, Vienna and Berlin. As a group, Avengers try to minimize those who are harmed but we are not the only ones who are looking out for the public’s best interests. As such I am personally donating one hundred million dollars to help the officers who are injured and their families on top of the money that others have already donated. I was blown away by the amount of money that has already been donated by people around the world when I woke up. That feeling of togetherness and commonality with those injured is exactly the amazing values that I think the Avengers are around to protect. We are here to help the people of the world feel safe based on their wants and not our own. That’s what the Avengers under the Accords will be working toward. We will be the will of the many nations not just a weapon of one. We will lead by the peoples’ example but we are still human. We have autonomy so the Avengers have the ability as individuals and as a whole to say no to ay mission that we have oral issues with.” Tony glanced around the room. He had given press releases before about the Accords but now he had a captive audience. He knew the twenty four hour news stations had this live. This was the best way to get his message across.

“The Avengers are a powerful group and as such we need balance. We need to work with those forces on the ground. We need to be better and worthy of the praise we get. I think that the Accords can be that check.” There were a few blank faces who seemed to not understand exactly what he was saying. Tony knew he was rambling but his brain was firing so quickly as it always did and he did not know how to slow it down for everyone to be on the same page.

Vision stepped up to the other podium. “If I may, maybe an analogy can help.”

Tony nodded at the other man and relaxed into his chair.

“Take a doctor. They are able to heal people due to their education. They have to sign an agreement to due no harm and are in check by their license as well as the AMA in the United States. If there is a question about their practice, they are not only liable to be sued but they are also judged by heir peers to see if their treatment was truly to help their patients. Lawyers have a similar group keeping them in check. Many jobs such as nurses, engineers, and technologists need licenses to work and are keep track of to make sure they keep up with certain standards. The Accords and the UN panel will be just like any of these governing bodies.” Vision moved away from the podium and nodded to Tony.

Tony smiled brightly at the other man. Vision disliked being the center of attention and felt pride that his friend was able to put himself out there so confidently. “I really couldn’t have said it better myself.” Tony turned back to their audience.  “Clearly after hearing my babbling,” Tony took a deep breath in and tired to relax. This was going to be uncomfortable. “Lastly, my injuries. I know that everyone has watched what happened and I want to say that for once what the internet has posted about me is true. My parents were murdered by Winter Soldier who was working for Hydra. I found out and under extreme trauma attacked him. I’m not proud of it but that is what happened. Winter Soldier is also known as James ‘Bucky’ Barnes’ aka Captain America’s side kick. We can only assume that Hydra has had him since his fall off the train and has brainwashed him to be their perfect assassin. Even in the forties, Barnes was a great sharp shooter so it’s not unreasonable that they knew that and it was part of this charm.” Tony winced as he moved his arm as he squirmed. “Normally, I would love to give you ore details but that is all I have about Barnes. Okay, so I have time for a few questions before my arm is going to need some of the good stuff.” Tony pointed to a internet reporter who made it to the front row. “You who elbowed his way to the front.”

The thirty year old man in a cheap suit and surprised look got up as he asked his question. “How long will the Avengers be out of operation since two of its major hitters are injured and half of the group are now terrorist in most countries?”

“The Avengers are still active. While I love the idea that little old me could make such a difference, there are other people who are enhanced who can step up in emergencies and some nonenhanced who are waitng for the next baddie to come. Rhodes whould be up for another fight in three months or less knowing how he hates being on the sidelines and I’ll be up and about in about two according to the good doctor.” Tony put on his biggest, flashiest smile. “I have always been ahead of the curve so we will see.” Pointing to a tall blonde with a mic with a Russian news network on it. Tony knew that they were still mad about what Rogers did by, in their words, invading their country. They were trying to figure out a way to blame the United States government for that action especially in the light that Tony had asked for permission when he flew into the country. “You, Ma’am.”

“Yes.” She said with a thick accent. “I am Lana Ivanov. We want to know will Captain America be allowed in invade any more countries in the name of the Avengers?”

Sighing, Tony tried to pull his injured arm to his head to run it through his hair forgetting about his cast. “Magically finger sticks.” Tony exclaimed as his body reminded him of his injuries. For a second, the room was quiet. Tony looked at the reporters’ dropped jaws. Who knew his not swearing would cause such a reaction. “Sorry, I have little monsters with big ears invading my house at the moment and getting hit on the back of the head with a concussion is not fun. You learn quickly not to say a ‘no no’  word mostly because little mouths are snitches. To answer your question Rogers was not acting on the behest of the Avengers anymore than Ultron did in Sokovia.”

The reporter had a follow up question. “So the U.S. is disavowing Captain America as a villain now?”

Tony shook his head. “No, I’m just saying as a member of the Avengers, Rogers was not acting like one of us. He was working from a place of fear for his friend and not in the best interest of anyone else.” Tony let the blanket gall off his shoulders as he massaged his shoulder. “There is a reason why I have asked for psychological clearance for every member of the Avengers. Rogers was taken out of the ice where he was in the middle of a war and pushed into a fight with aliens. Since then, he has had no help getting used to this new world that he is in. I’m not saying that forgives him but it shows that he is a man trying to hold onto the one part of the past he has left.” Tony let his hand fall away from his shoulder as he nodded to Christine Everhart. He liked the pieces she was posting even though at times they were harsher than he wanted. “Ms. Everhart, you get the honor of the last question.”

She stood, looking directly at Tony as if she was measuring him. “Mr. Stark, you have been the major patron for the Avengers since SHIELD fell. You not only gave them housing but food and clothing. Other than you and Colonel Rhodes, none of the other current Avengers have jobs. Not even at a fast food establishment or café and you and the Colonel are the only ones who not only have finished high school but college.”

Tony winced at the tone that the reporter was using even though it wasn’t towards him for once. “Your question?”

“Knowing all of that and adding Mr. Rogers using his ties to you to find your parents killer no to bring him to justice but to hide him,” She paused for a second as if even she was wondering if she was going a little too far, “Can you forgive him?”

Tony flinched at his relationship with the former leader of the Avengers being pushed into the light. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

* * *

Vision had wheeled Tony out of the door they had come from into the arms of a very eager toddler. Nate giggled as he grabbed onto Tony’s neck tightly. Tony turned his had and breathed in the sweet smell of a clean, happy baby. “Oh, little Barton. Just what I needed.” He said to Laura who patted Tony’s head.

“I know. Clint and I thought it would be a good way to reward you.” She teased Tony softly.

Before Tony could reply, a deep, friendly voice interrupted. “Who would have thought that was the answer? I’ve tried alcohol, food, clubs and toys but the answer was kids.”

Tony leaned around Laura to see Rhodey wheeling himself quickly towards them. “Platypus! They let you out early.”

Rhodey moved so he was next to Laura. “Actually, the treatment that Dr. Cho used on you cut down my swelling. It went down to almost nothing in a matter of a few hours. She still wants me to have some physical therapy for the next few weeks to let my body heal some kinks out but I should be back on my feet by the end of the month.” He turned to Laura.  “Knowing you, your family and Nat were here at the Tower for once, I knew I wanted to join the party as soon as possible”

Tony was excited to see his brother from another mother but he also knew there was no way of getting around a feeling conversation now since all the healthy adults would be trying to talk about what happened with Cap and Soldier. He wanted more time.

There was a knock on the door to the press room. They all looked at each other before Vision opened the door. Christine Everhart was standing there looking impeccable except those predator’s eyes she always had. “I’m sorry to interrupt but I was wondering if you had a comment about the stories I’ve been running on the Avengers.” She paused for a second. “I’m putting out a segment about you next and would love quote.” She had an air of innocence around her that if one didn’t know who she was probably would work too back Tony had gone up against her too many times.

Laura muttered under her breathe. “I’m sure you would.” It was loud enough for Tony to hear and cause Rhodey to snort.

Tony wheeled himself closer to the reporter.  “How about I do one better If you can get it done by tomorrow at seven pm, I’m willing to do a live interview here.”

Christine looked shocked for a microsecond but quickly recovered. “I could have it ready by tonight if you wanted.” She was clearly trying to wiggle out why he chose tomorrow.

Vision spoke up before Tony could make a dry retort back at Christine. “Mr. Stark needs to get some rest. He is already pushing the schedule Dr. Cho gave him. If you will excuse us, we will be taking Mr. Stark back to his room. Good day, Ms. Everhart.” Vision said as he took control of Tony’s wheelchair and pushed him down the hall.

Tony tried to suppress his smile as he was taken away from the brunette. “You know I just like calling her the dragon lady. She won’t really turn into a dragon.”

“I understand that but I also believe that Ms. Potts will not be happy about your interview tomorrow.”

Nate had his hand flung out to both sides with Tony hold him. The toddler loved zooming backward giggling. Tony was sure that some of Clint’s daredevil ways were pasted to the mini thrill seeker. “I was going to get an interview with someone soon. Why not her?”

“Tony,” Rhodey said as he caught up with the trio. “There are other reporters.”

“Yes, but everyone know that she is going a series on the Avenegers and she won’t go easy on me. If I go with a reporter who loves me, it’ll just turn into a puff piece. What I did out there was just the beginning. You know that they won’t stop until they bleed this story dry and Christine is the shark with the most teeth and the sharpest nose. By taking on the biggest, we might lessen the damage by taking on bite rather than a pack coming at us.”

There was a beat before Jarvis spoke. “Actually sir, most sharks and piranhas do not attack humans.”

Tony turned Nate around on his lap as they reached his room. “So reporters are worse than sharks. That actually the oceans feel safer.”

Pepper entered the room looking down at her phone. “The conference went well. The stock had gone up and you are trending positively on twitter.” She looked and rushed to Rhodey. As she pulled him into a hug, she smiled brightly. “It’s good to see you getting around.”

Rhodes hugged her back tightly. They had been friends for years and mostly had to deal with Tony’s crazy life. Rhodey and Pepper realized how important they were to each other while Rhodey went through his first few days at the hospital. They knew that it wasn’t only Tony that they cared about.

Tony cleared his throat. “Um, never do that again. It was like seeing your parents have sex.” He waited for a beat. “Actually, it’s like your ex and your brother. Still vomit inducing but without the Electra complex.”

Pepper got an evil look on her face. She sat on Rhodey’s lap much to the chagrin of Tony. The darker man laughed and pulled Pepper closer. “Actually Tony, Pepper and I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

Tony covered Nates ears and started shouting Lalala at the top of his lungs. Nate started to grab Tony’s hands and pull them down to clap with his. He also started to babble loudly seeming to sing with Tony. Tony smiled widely as he stopped to listen to the little man.

Vision pushed Tony’s chair next to the bed and helped him as Pepper took Nate for a few seconds away from his favorite cuddle buddy. The toddler was not amused. Tony laughed after Vision tucked him in and then handed him Nate. Pepper rolled her eyes as Tony babbled at the baby. “Most people can’t tell when you are talking tech and now he’s introducing you to baby lingo. I’m sure that will pop up during an interview.”

Tony winced slightly. “Yeah, about an interview… I have one set up for tomorrow night with Everhart.”

Pepper looked down at her phone and seemed to see a confirmation of Tony’s statement. “Of course you do. You didn’t think to run this by me first.”

Tony rolled his eyes at the statement. “Pep, I’m not a child. I am able to get through an interview without embarrassing myself.”

Pepper shook her head. “It’s not the embarrassment that I’m worried about.” She sat down next to Tony. “You are still recovering. I know you now have Extremis in you as well but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need time to heal. Hell, you haven’t talked to your therapist or worked with BARF since you got back. I don’t want you to push yourself too quickly and end up hurting yourself.”

Rhodey chimed in. “None of us do and Everhart is hard to deal with when you are at your best.”

Tony was about to reply when Nat, Clint, Coulson and Laura walked into the room. After a beat, Clint spoke. “So any reason why we are so depressed other than the obvious?”

“Tony is doing an interview with Everhart tomorrow night.” Pepper replied.

Rhodey continued. “The best part is its going to be live.”

Clint looked at his friend who seemed to be getting annoyed at everyone in the room. Clint felt the same way as Pepper and Rhodey and wanted Tony to lay off the stress for a while but he knew Tony wouldn’t appreciate the coddling. “So, you were telling him how this chick has nothing on Iron Man right?” He looked around the room. “I mean Tony’s going to be in the room but I see a soldier, a CEO, a SHEILD director, an AI merged man, a spy, a retired agent and a soon to be retired marksman not to mention the cutest baby in world all behind him. He’s not only going to hit this out of the park, it going to go out of the galaxy.”

Nat nodded. “She is probably going to ask questions about what I sent her. I can go over information she still has with you.”

“It would be a strong statement after the press conference especially since the census is on Tony’s side right now. We should use that momentum.” Coulson said as he sat on the bed. “I’ll get Daisy hack into her computer and see if there will be any surprises.”

Rhodey looked at Tony for a second and saw the surprise on his friends face as half of the room was trying to help Tony with his last crazy idea. “If there was anyone who could pull this off, it would be you Tones.”

Tony smiled widely as his oldest friend. “Thanks.”

Laura folded her arms over her chest and tried to look stern though her eyes were smiling. “Yes, we all know that Tony will do amazing tomorrow but today and especially right now, he needs to get some rest so everyone who is not his napping buddy out of the room.” She caught her husband walking towards the bed. “That was not an invite to take a nap Clint. I want you to scope out rooms for the interview.”

Clint leered at his wife. “I love it when you take control.”

She smiled back. “I know you do.”

“Okay, that is too much information. You two get a room and not this one. Me and my buddy Nat have some serious napping to do.” Tony said as he grabbed the medication that he had at his bedside. It was pretty strong but Extremis seemed to metabolize it quickly. He only had a small window where he would be able to get some good rest before the nightmares start. “Everyone out.”

Pepper stayed after everyone left. “You know I believe in you, right?”

“I know, Pep, and I know I scare you the most when I’m hurt.” Tony said as he grabbed her hand to give it a quick squeeze.

There were tears that would never fall welling in her eyes. “Give me just one year where something crazy doesn’t happen to you.”

Sadness thick in his voice, Tony replied. “I wish I could… I would give you the world if I could.”

Pepper leaned over a kissed Tony’s forehead. “And all I want is you to be safe.” Pepper brush a hand through his hair. “No matter what happens remember that I love you.”

Tony yawned. “Only if you do the same.”

Pepper watched Tony as he fell asleep wondering that if some crazy world they could have make it work. Yes, she loved him but even with Extremis, she was just not strong enough for the man in the bed. Most days she was just happy that he was still in her life but some days she missed the days when they were more


End file.
